The present invention relates to a position error measurement method and a device that uses a positioning mark, which determines a position of a mark on a workpiece to be machined and performs positioning correction based on the position of this mark. Further, the invention relates to improvement in a machining device which corrects the position of the workpiece based on the result of measuring the position errors using the mark.
FIG. 7 shows an example of the configuration of a conventional machining device. This device determines a position of a mark on a workpiece to be machined and corrects the position based on the determined position of the mark. Such a device is generally used when drilling holes in a printed board. In this FIG., 1 is a camera with a lens having a narrow visual field, 5 is an image processing unit which performs image processing to images obtained by the camera 1, 6 is a display unit which displays the images obtained the camera 1 and the result of processing in the image processing unit 5, 7 is a workpiece to be machined, 8 is an XY table which performs positioning of the workpiece 7, 9 is a tool with which the workpiece 7 is machined, 10 is a control unit which provides controls for image processing, positioning correction, and machining, or the like, 11 is a manual pulse generator, and 21 to 24 are positioning marks (that is, marks used for positioning).
Since high-positioning accuracy is required for an operation such as drilling in a printed board, it is required to use any camera with a narrow visual field and high resolution as one used for positioning correction as explained above.
Operation of this device is explained below with reference to FIG. 7. The workpiece 7 is fixed to the XY table 8, and positioning is corrected by the XY table 8 before machining is performed. The correction for positioning is performed by positioning the XY table 8 in the X direction and the Y direction by not shown X-axial driving system and Y-axial driving system based on instructions of the control unit 10. The amount of correction for positioning is determined by moving the camera 1 to the preset reference position of a positioning mark, performing image processing to the mark by the image processing unit 5, and measuring position errors between the reference position and the positioning mark.
FIG. 8 shows an example of measuring position errors using a positioning mark through image processing. In this FIG. 3 represents a visual field of the camera 1. As explained above, the visual field 3 of the camera 1 is narrow because a high-positioning accuracy is required. As shown in FIG. 8 (a), when a positioning mark 21 is not within the narrow visual field 3 of the camera 1, the positioning mark is not found even when the image processing is performed in the image processing unit 5, therefore, an error in recognition occurs. On the other hand, if the positioning mark 21 is within the narrow visual field 3 of the camera 1, the error in recognition does not occur.
In FIG. 7, when the positioning mark 21 can not be recognized by the image processing unit 5, alarm information indicating the error in recognition or the like is transmitted from the image processing unit 5 to the control unit 10. The control unit 10 generates an alarm or the like so that the operator can easily understand the situation. When the operator hears the alarm he moves the camera 1 at a position such that the positioning mark 21 comes inside the narrow visual field 3 of the camera 1 by using the manual pulse generator 11 of the control unit 10 (see FIG. 8 (b)), and allows the image processing unit 5 to perform image processing again. FIG. 8 (c) shows an example of displaying the result of measuring position errors of the positioning mark on the display unit 6. The camera 1 is then moved to the position of the next positioning mark, and the position is automatically measured.
The operation of measuring position errors of the positioning mark as explained above is executed some times corresponding to the preset number of points of positioning marks to be measured, position errors of a machining point on the workpiece 7 are determined through operations in the control unit 10 from the data for the measured position errors of the positioning mark, the position errors of the machining point are corrected, and the machining point on the workpiece 7 whose position errors have been corrected is machined with the tool 9 in FIG. 7. In this type of machining device which corrects the position of the workpiece based on the result of measuring position errors using a positioning mark in the conventional manner, when a positioning mark is not found, an error in recognition occurs in the image processing unit. In this case, a lot of manual operations are required and also a lot of time is spent to correct positioning. That is, the operator has to manually move the camera so that the positioning mark comes inside the visual field of the camera, and image processing is performed again to the mark, and so forth.
As explained above, when the object is not inside the visual field of the camera, the processing is troublesome. To solve the problem, there is a position error measurement device disclosed in JP60-163183A shown in FIG. 9 as the technology that the processing is performed by changing the size o f the visual field of the camera. In this FIG. 101 is an object region where an object 102 to be recognized may exist, 103 is a camera with a built-in electric zoom lens 104 that is selectable between a wide visual field and a narrow visual field, 105 is a two-dimensional positioning device which moves the camera 103 to any position within the object region 101, and 106 is a visual sensor control unit. This visual sensor control unit 106 comprises a zoom lens driving unit 107 that drives the electric zoom lens 104, a positioning control unit 108 for the two-dimensional positioning device 105, an image processing unit 109 that processes an image captured from the camera 103, and a central processing unit 110 that integrally controls these devices.
The camera 103 is positioned at the center of the object region 101. Further, visual field of the electric zoom lens 104 is set to wide visual field. Therefore, the overall object region 101 is displayed within the image obtained by the camera 103. The object 102 to be recognized is naturally displayed at a predetermined position within this object range 101. The two-dimensional positioning device 105 is driven by the positioning control unit 108 and the camera 103 is positioned at the position facing the recognition object 102 based on the data for position errors of the recognition object 102 that has been obtained in the wide visual field. At this stage, the zoom lens driving unit 7 switches the visual field of the zoom lens 104 to narrow visual field. Therefore, the image information obtained in the narrow visual field is processed by the image processing unit 109 to obtain the data for high-accuracy position errors.
Referring to the case that the positioning mark as shown in FIG. 7 is recognized by using the above explained method, a the image processing is performed to the positioning mark in wide visual field, the camera is moved so that the positioning mark is positioned at the center of the visual field, the visual field is switched to narrow visual field, image processing is performed to the positioning mark, and the positioning correction is performed. Thus, this method is effective only when the most of the positioning marks are not found in the camera with the narrow visual field, but it takes a lot of time to recognize the marks because each of the marks is recognized in wide visual field and then recognized in narrow visual field, which does not allow the method to be applied to any purpose where high productivity is required.
It is an object of this invention to obtain a position error measurement method and a device using a positioning mark which are applicable to any purpose where high accuracy and high productivity are required, and also to obtain a machining device which corrects a position based on the result of measuring position errors using the positioning mark.
A position error measurement method using a positioning mark according to first aspect of this comprises the steps of positioning/fixing a positioning mark on a workpiece to be machined with predetermined accuracy with respect to an image information detection unit; determining, when the positioning mark can be detected by the image information detection unit having a narrow visual field, position errors of the workpiece based on the detected image information; and detecting, when the positioning mark can not be detected by the image information detection unit having the narrow visual field, image information for the positioning mark by the image information detection unit having the wide visual field; correcting a relative position between the image information detection unit having the wide visual field and the workpiece based on the position errors of the workpiece obtained from the detected image information; detecting image information for the positioning mark by the image information detection unit having a narrow visual field; and determining position errors of the workpiece based on the detected image information.
A position error measurement method using a positioning mark according to second aspect of this invention comprises the steps of positioning/fixing the positioning mark on a workpiece to be machined with predetermined accuracy with respect to an image information detection unit; determining, when the positioning mark can be detected by the image information detection unit that can change the size of the visual field set to the narrow visual field, position errors of the workpiece based on the detected image information; and detecting, when the positioning mark can not be detected by the image information detection unit that can change the size of the visual field set to the narrow visual field, image information for the positioning mark by widening the visual field of the image information detection unit; correcting a relative position between the image information detection unit and the workpiece based on the position errors of the workpiece obtained from the detected image information; detecting image information for the positioning mark by narrowing the visual field of the image information detection unit; and determining position errors of the workpiece based on the detected image information.
A position error measurement device using a positioning mark according to a third aspect of this invention comprises a positioning/fixing unit which positions and fixes the positioning mark on a workpiece to be machined with predetermined accuracy with respect to the image information detection unit, a first image information detection unit which has a narrow visual field, and a second image information detection unit which has a wide visual field, and when the first image information detection unit can detect the positioning mark, position errors of the workpiece are determined based on the detected image information, while, when the first image information detection unit can not detect the positioning mark, the second image information detection unit detects image information for the positioning mark, a positioning unit corrects the position errors of the workpiece obtained from the detected image information, the first image information detection unit detects image information for the positioning mark, and then position errors of the workpiece are determined based on the detected image information.
A position error measurement device using a positioning mark according to a fourth aspect of this invention comprises a positioning/fixing unit which positions and fixes the positioning mark on a workpiece to be machined with predetermined accuracy with respect to an image information detection unit, and an image information detection unit which can change the size of its visual field, and when the image information detection unit that has selected a narrow visual field can detect the positioning mark, position errors of the workpiece are determined based on the detected image information, while, when the image information detection unit that has selected the narrow visual field can not detect the positioning mark, image information for the positioning mark is detected by widening the visual field of the image information detection unit, a positioning unit corrects the position errors of the workpiece obtained from the detected image information, image information for the positioning mark is detected by narrowing the visual field of the image information detection unit, and then position errors of the workpiece are determined based on the detected image information.
A machining device which corrects a position based on the result of measuring position error using a positioning mark according to a fifth aspect of this invention comprises a positioning/fixing unit which positions and fixes the positioning mark on a workpiece to be machined with predetermined accuracy with respect to an image information detection unit and a machining unit, a first image information detection unit which has a narrow visual field, and a second image information detection unit which has a wide visual field, and when the first image information detection unit can detect the positioning mark, position errors of the workpiece are determined based on the detected image information, while, when the first image information detection unit can not detect the positioning mark, the second image information detection unit detects image information for the positioning mark, a positioning unit corrects the position errors of the workpiece obtained from the detected image information, the first image information detection unit detects image information for the positioning mark, and position errors of the workpiece are determined based on the detected image information, the positioning unit corrects the position errors of the workpiece obtained from the first image information detection unit, and the machining unit machines the workpiece.
A machining device which corrects a position based on the result of measuring position error using a positioning mark according to a sixth aspect of this invention comprises a positioning/fixing unit which positions and fixes the positioning mark on a workpiece with predetermined accuracy with respect to an image information detection unit and a machining unit, and an image information detection unit which can change the size of its visual field, and when the image information detection unit that has selected a narrow visual field can detect the positioning mark, position errors of the workpiece are determined based on the detected image information, while, when the image information detection unit that has selected the narrow visual field can not detect the positioning mark, image information for the positioning mark is detected by widening the visual field of the image information detection unit, a positioning unit corrects the position errors of the workpiece obtained from the detected image information, image information for the positioning mark is detected by narrowing the visual field of the image information detection unit, position errors of the workpiece are determined based on the detected image information, the positioning unit corrects the position errors of the workpiece obtained from the image information detection unit that has selected the narrow visual field, and the machining unit machines the workpiece.
The present invention produces the effects as follows based on the configuration as explained above.
The first invention is configured to position and fix a positioning mark on a workpiece to be machined with predetermined accuracy with respect to an image information detection unit so that the positioning mark rarely exists outside the image information detection unit having a narrow visual field. When the image information detection unit having a narrow visual field can detect the positioning mark, position errors of the workpiece are then determined from the image information by the image information detection unit having a narrow visual field. Therefore, the data-recognition time in image processing and the time for positioning a workpiece can largely be reduced as compared to the case where each of the positioning marks is recognized in the wide visual field and then recognized in the narrow visual field, which produces such an effect that this invention is also applicable to any purpose where high accuracy and high productivity are required.
The second invention can further improve productivity, in addition to the same effect as that of the first invention, because the travel of an operation for position correction by a positioning unit can be decreased when switching is executed between an image information detection unit having a wide visual field and an image information detection unit having a narrow visual field. Further, there are some more effects that there is no need to match the position of the image information detection unit having a narrow visual field with the position of the image information detection unit having a wide visual field, and the configuration can be more compact.
The third invention and the fifth invention produce the same effect as that of the first invention.
The fourth invention and the sixth invention produce the same effect as that of the second invention.